Reducing dietary acid intake is seen as a possible way of slowing kidney decline in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). A recent study looked at oral alkali supplementation as a method of doing this. The kidneys are the body’s filters of the bloodstream, removing waste and toxins from the blood and allowing the body to expel them through urine.

When the kidneys are unable to do this for a long period of time, the person has chronic kidney disease. The wastes and toxins build up in the blood stream and can begin to damage and destroy other organs as well as cause a person to develop diabetes.

1 out of ten adults are currently suffering from it. For this study, researchers looked at 14 clinical trials, totaling 1,394 patients and looked at the effect of either alkali supplementation or dietary intervention. All patients had stage 3 to 5 CKD and metabolic acidosis and low to normal serum bicarbonate levels. Eight of these trials compared oral alkali supplementation to a control group.

The control groups either received regular care or were given placebos. Five other studies compared dietary intervention, ketoanalogue-supplemented very low-protein diet or low-protein diets with control diets. The control diets consisted of low protein or the normal diet for patients with these conditions.

The results showed some hope for reducing acid levels. Both alkali supplementation or dietary intervention and reduced the risk of advancing kidney kidney disease. However, researchers also showed alkali supplementation increased the need for anti-hypertensive therapy and made edema worse.

Treatment with dietary intervention resulted in the reduction of a patients systolic blood pressure. Are you interested in more ways to get involved in natural treatment of chronic kidney disease? Please browse our shop page to see all the latest new editions!